Development of Tool to Measure Mechanics of Cylindrical Soft Tissue Samples

The objective of this study was to develop a tool to measure the mechanics of cylindrical soft tissue samples, specifically applied to the mouse uterus. Specialized equipment is required to perform such testing at the desired scale and sensitivity. An adjustable fixture was developed to mount mouse uterine ring samples with a method that allowed us to perform tensile testing using the ElectroForce 3200 Mechanical Testing System. The geometric parameters of the sample were determined by front and side-angled cameras throughout the test. Using the collected force-displacement data from the ElectroForce and the video recordings, the mechanical response of tissue was analyzed in Matlab. The methodology described in this study can be further developed to measure the mechanical properties of cylindrical shaped soft tissues. A specific application of interest is measuring the strength of cesarean section (c-section) scars to better understand uterine rupture